Minister for International Development Sirpa Paatero visited Myanmar to learn about the country strategy
Press Release 86/2015
20 March 2015
Finland has started to provide support for the development of early childhood education in Myanmar. Minister for International Development Sirpa Paatero learned about the implementation model during her visit to Myanmar.
”When I met with Myanmar's Minister of Education Khin San Yin on Wednesday, we talked about their National Education Sector Plan, which is under way and which covers education from early childhood to university level. Finland starts its cooperation in the education sector from early childhood education, but there is a strong need of support in, for example, the vocational education sector," Minister Sirpa Paatero said in Yangon on Thursday.
The Minister visited the township of Kunyangon south of the Yangon Division to get familiar with the early childhood education model supported by Finland. There is a community-based early childhood centre, founded by the international Save the Children organisation, which has operated for six years already and with good results. The organisation is Finland's partner in three other cities in projects implemented in different parts of Myanmar. The early childhood centres' idea is to develop child-centred pre-primary education model for the whole of Myanmar. The centres' experiences are used in the development of the national education system in Myanmar.
The early childhood centres' seek to provide the best possible start for children's school career, also to those coming from communities in which, for one reason or another, the preconditions for schooling are poor. The centres are run right from the start by the village communities.
Myanmar was ruled by a military junta and isolated from the rest of the world for nearly half a century. In 2011, a reform process was started and at the beginning of this year Finland launched a country strategy for development cooperation in Myanmar.
Besides education, the country strategy focuses on the development of democracy and the rule of law, and the promotion of good management of natural resources and the environment.
Additional information: Maria Suokko, Senior Specialist maria.suokko(at)formin.fi and Claus Jerker Lindroos, Diplomatic Adviser for the Minister for International Development claus-jerker.lindroos(at)formin.fi, +358 40 132 1416